Shirley Webb added to the growing list of disappointed Britons on another miserable day for Team GB at the World Athletics Championships in Helsinki.

The Newcastle-born athlete failed to qualify for the final of the women's hammer as Britain remained on course for their worst ever World Championships.

Webb finished 12th in her qualifying group with a disappointing 64.16m. Her personal best, reached last month in Loughborough, is 67.58m.

Yesterday 66.73m was enough for Zhang Wenxiu of China to make tomorrow's final, with only five women clearing the 70m mark required for automatic qualification.

Webb got off to a bad start, no-throwing with her first attempt. The second reached 64.16m, but she was unable to better it in her third and final throw, which fell almost 10cm short of the 64m mark.

Perhaps the biggest surprise, however, came when Nathan Douglas, one of the country's best medal hopes, crashed out of the triple jump after finishing 15th in qualifying.

Sprinters Christian Malcolm and Marlon Devonish then slumped in the semi-finals of the 200m, finishing last and seventh in their respective races.

Britain's previous worst championships came in 2001 when the team won only two medals - gold for Jonathan Edwards in the triple jump and Dean Macey's decathlon bronze.

So far, only two British athletes have qualified for a final, Carl Myerscough eventually finishing last in the shot and Kelly Sotherton in last night's long jump final.

Sotherton, a disappointing fifth in the heptathlon on Sunday after a javelin she described as "abysmal," jumped 6.42 metres with her third effort to earn another three attempts in the final.

But the 28-year-old then registered three fouls in the pouring rain to remain in eighth position.

Sotherton said: "I can't expect more than that because I'm so tired. I didn't have anything left. I was running in empty.

"To get to the top eight in the world championship final is an achievement when I'm ranked only in the top 30. I've really given myself a pat on the back. You don't realise how much the heptathlon takes out of you."

Malcolm, who was a late arrival in Helsinki after receiving treatment for a pelvic injury, said: "I can't blame anything, I don't know what to say. I just ran poorly."

Devonish, part of the Olympic gold medal-winning relay team, said: "Rubbish, just rubbish."

Douglas initially refused to talk to reporters but returned to the stadium almost six hours later.

"I'm not really sure why I didn't jump right," said the 22-year-old, ranked third in the world this year after jumping 17.64m to win the AAA's championship, but only reaching 16.53m in qualifying.